Conventionally, in a drying processing that removes a processing liquid remaining on a substrate such as, for example, a silicon wafer or a liquid crystal substrate, a pattern collapse may occur by the surface tension of the processing liquid acting on the pattern formed on a front surface of the substrate.
Hence, a technique of imparting water-repellency to the surface of the substrate by supplying a water-repellent agent prior to a drying processing, has recently been suggested (see, e.g., Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2012-222329). According to the technique, since the front surface of the substrate is imparted with water-repellency, the surface tension hardly acts on the pattern of the surface of the substrate. Therefore, the pattern collapse may be suppressed.